Turn
by mermaidstear
Summary: Gage has infiltrated the First Order by command of General Leia. While gathering information for the Resistance, she finds that she likes the First Order far more than she thought she would. Kylo Ren/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I hope you enjoy this first chapter because I've enjoyed writing it. I'll admit that I'm new to the Star Wars fandom and particularly new to writing it. I've done some research but you can never do enough, in my opinion. If I've messed up anything universe-wise such as planet names or things like Tie Fighters, etc. I'd appreciate you letting me know. And as this is a fresh idea for me, not everything is fully formulated so I'm very interested in feedback and where you think this might/should go. Thank you! I only own Gage.**

Gage pulled her safety goggles down over her eyes before rolling under the Snowspeeder on her creeper. She unlocked the control panel, found the pair of faulty wires, and turned on her hand torch. Sparks flew as she fused them. Though it was late, Gage wanted the maintenance done before she forced herself to rest. Sleep had been hard to come by since she joined the First Order and particularly since she'd been given a position on the Finalizer.

"I'm the best mechanic in the galaxy," she'd stated when asked why the First Order should bother with her, "and the Resistance's loss is your gain." What had started as a joke between Gage and Poe had become the tagline General Leia saddled her with. "Poe Dameron and Gage Marlow, the best pilot and mechanic in the galaxy!" Poe would say as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Gage would laugh, aching to be a pilot too. The words sounded hollow and fake when she said them seriously but they must have rung true because here she was.

It had all started with Poe's hurried whisper, "General Leia wants to see you." Gage remembered how Poe assumed that Leia was finally going to give her a commission, an X-Wing Fighter, an orange jumpsuit, a flight jacket; all the things she had been coveting for years. Gage had thought it more likely that Leia wanted her to look at R2-D2 again or compliment her on the work she'd done on Poe's BB unit. Both of them had been incorrect.

"I want information on the First Order, Gage," Leia had said, "and I think you can get it for me."

Gage wasn't sure why Leia had picked her to be her first intelligence officer (the term "spy" sounded too criminal, however accurate it may have been). She found it particularly strange, considering how Leia wouldn't even give her a pilot position. There were times when Gage resented Leia for that. She sucked a breath in through her teeth as she turned off the hand torch and tucked it into the belt of her grey jumpsuit, realizing this was one of those times.

There were few things Gage liked more than flying. In fact, she could only think of two; Poe's charming, infectious laugh and Poe himself. She was a good technician, perhaps even a great one, but she didn't love being a mechanic. It was a lonely job, where most people only came to her when they needed something fixed, where she was forced to watch her best friend slowly leaving her behind, and being one of Leia's best technicians kept her grounded. Leia had never admitted it but Gage knew the reason she had never received the pilot commission was because Leia was afraid of losing her to it. "I want to actually do something for the Resistance. I want to be more than a mechanic," Gage always told Poe and suddenly, she was. By comparison, "double agent" sounded much better, even with the multiple negative implications and Leia's formal appraisal of her as "unremarkable."

"No one in the First Order will notice you, certainly not my son or any other high ranking officials," Leia had told her. Avoiding the attention of Ben Solo and his new friends in the First Order was part of the assignment so Gage didn't rankle at Leia's blunt words. If being overlooked was what the Resistance required her to do, Gage felt sure she could do it. _I play that part well enough now,_ she'd thought.

Gage grabbed her light before pushing the wires she'd been working on back in the control panel. While her hands were still in the Snowspeeder, she decided to check for any other weaknesses. Her fingers ran along pipes and tubes, tightening and loosening valves along the way.

Gage would readily admit that not much had changed for her since coming into the First Order. Leia said, "Everyone needs a mechanic," and that was certainly true. X-Wings weren't that different from Tie Fighters, blasters and droids malfunctioned everywhere, and she still worked long hours. The only noticeable difference was the animosity most in the First Order threw her way.

She occupied a strange place in the First Order hierarchy. Neither a Stormtrooper nor someone in charge. Neither trustworthy nor deceitful. Only worth notice when a Stormtrooper wanted to let off steam but good enough to come to when there was a genuine problem. And that had been in the months before she'd worked her way onto the Finalizer, their finest ship. Recruits were rare in the First Order and defectors even rarer. That was a title Gage could only share with Leia's son, now called Kylo Ren, and she bore the suspicion that came with it.

She'd been on the Finalizer mere days and had already drawn far too much attention. _But it's to be expected,_ she told herself, testing the strength of a pipe. _Leaving the Resistance doesn't happen every day._ Luckily, she'd sent her first pod back to base before boarding. No one in the First Order had blinked an eye at a pod being ejected with no life forms on it. They'd just assumed someone somewhere had a mistake and while their newest member was an ex-Resistance fighter, there was doubt she could manage such a thing. Gage couldn't help smiling at the thought.

Suddenly, her fingers slipped, loosening a valve far too much. Oil splattered across the chest of her jumpsuit. "Of course," she muttered, quickly covering the leak with a hand. As if in response, a streak of oil ran down her cheek. With her free hand, Gage dropped her light and perhaps foolishly, shed her goggles. She tried to tighten the valve with her fingers but they were too slick. Groaning, she felt for a wrench, more than aware she didn't have one in her belt. The wrench she needed was buried in her toolbox, which was sitting near her feet in front of the Snowspeeder. Gage had been the only one on the floor for hours and she couldn't risk rolling out on her creeper and dealing with the massive mess that would be made in her wake. General Hux had already been looking for reasons to throw her off the Finalizer and she didn't need to give him any more.

She angled her foot and tried to slip it through the handle of her toolbox but only succeeded in knocking it over. "Damn," Gage whispered when she heard the clang of metal hitting the floor. She loosened her grip on the pipe for just a second, long enough for a drop of oil to run the length of her scalp. She scooted her creeper out as far as she dared go and felt for the wrench with her foot. She heard a screwdriver roll across the floor. "Come on," she murmured.

She paused, oil running over her glove, when she thought she heard footsteps approaching. "Hey!" Gage called. For good measure, she kicked another screwdriver to make some noise. _I know you see me,_ she thought. _I can hear them now, 'Oh, that's just the Resistance girl. Let her drown in oil.'_ But the footsteps came to a stop at the Snowspeeder and Gage tried not to sigh in relief when she saw the outline of boots beside her own. "Would you hand me a pipe wrench?" she asked, oil slipping beneath her sleeve. She gestured at the overturned toolbox with her foot.

A wrench slid to rest beside her free hand, so quickly that she hadn't seen them grab it. She took it eagerly before letting her face fall. It wasn't right and Gage doubted that this person would be willing to help her twice. Caring too much about other Stormtroopers was frowned upon and she wasn't even one of them. Gage was still an outsider after six months in the First Order. She didn't see that changing any time soon. She clenched her jaw and threw the wrench anyway. It came to a halt in front of their boots.

"Not that one! The wrench I'm looking for has an adjustable head and a red handle." Not a moment later, something else clattered to the floor near her hand. She picked it up, a wrench with an adjustable head and a red handle. "Great, that's it! Thanks." Gage winced. Saying "thanks" wasn't a First Order thing to do, even if someone higher up in the chain of command did you a favor. _Which are few and far between._

Gage shrugged it off and brought the wrench up to take care of the situation at hand. She shifted her fingers blocking the leak to adjust the wrench and closed her eyes in time for oil to splash against her chest again. Blinking them back open, she locked the wrench around the valve and tightened. Slowly, the flow of oil altogether stopped and Gage slouched against her creeper, laughing in relief. A glance towards her toolbox told her that she hadn't been left alone. _Great,_ she thought. _By myself on the floor with a Stormtrooper._ Still, she wasn't nervous. If she had to knock one out to prove that she wasn't to be messed with, well, Gage had no problem with that. If they wanted something done, she was practiced at telling them what they wanted to hear. If they inquired about the Resistance, she had her very practiced speech.

She rolled out from underneath the Snowspeeder and asked lowly, "Is there something I can help you with?" The wrench fell from her hand as she sat up and saw who had helped her. She would have preferred an anonymous Stormtrooper. Standing before Gage was Kylo Ren. Since coming aboard the Finalizer, she had only seen him a handful of times and those from a safe distance. From her position on the ground, he appeared larger than life, taller than a man had any right to be.

"Yes, there is," he replied, a black mask distorting what must be an already deep voice. Gage nervously pulled off her dirty gloves, slick with oil, and tossed them onto a tray with her half-eaten dinner. She certainly wasn't going to finish it now.

"Yes, sir," she responded, fishing around on the floor behind her for her cleaning rag. Finding it, she grabbed the wrench again and forced herself to her feet. "What do you need me to do?" She began to fiddle with cleaning the wrench, noticing that oil had sunk through her glove to stain the nails of her left hand.

The main floor was well and truly deserted, no one to see if he decided to kill her for daring to ask for not just one tool but two. Their only company was an array of Tie Fighters and Snowspeeders. Gage caught her reflection in a pane of glass on one of the former. Though it was distorted, she could see the mark of black on her cheek, the oil across her chest and neck, even the mark of slickness in her dark hair. This was not the way to make a first real impression with someone like Kylo Ren, filthy and on your back. He already held the power in most situations. Why make it easier for him?

"You call yourself the best mechanic in the galaxy," he said. Gage rubbed the rag along her collarbone, hoping she was making progress.

Her full lips parted in a dry laugh. "I did say that," she admitted. "I would tell you it's an exaggeration but I'm certainly the best you've got." She took the corner of the rag to her cheek but only smeared the mark.

"I want you to prove it." There was something unnerving about not knowing where he was looking, which Gage supposed was the entire point.

"Gladly, sir." Gage expected him to gesture at his shuttle behind him, say that light speed was acting up or that his pilots had noticed their cockpit controls were malfunctioning; problems she had solved a myriad of times before this.

"Why did you leave the Resistance, Gage Marlow?" He said her full name as if it was one. _And I should have known that's what he wanted,_ she thought. Gage's fingers instinctively went to her hand torch when he took a step toward her. This time she knew Kylo Ren was looking at her hands, one wrapped around a wrench and the other around the hand torch.

"I grew tired of General Leia's leadership." Gage made her grip relax and kept her eyes on his visor.

"You grew tired of her not giving you what you want," he declared.

"Yes," she confessed coolly before pausing. "I've heard you can read minds. Is that what you just did to me?"

"No. Your face is easy to read." She nodded, dark hair falling over her shoulder. _Guess I should get a mask like everyone else,_ she considered. Leia had mentioned before a group of Resistance fighters, including Gage and Poe, that the Force could influence weaker minds and even look into them. Before leaving, Gage had trained herself to keep focused on tasks at hand and nothing more. A blank mind could be as suspicious as thinking, "I'm a spy!" as far as Gage was concerned. Even the sharpest mind could fall prey to a clever trick. "What is it that you wanted?"

"I wanted to be a pilot." Gage kicked her toolbox to an upright position and tossed the wrench into it. "But Leia knew I was a better mechanic. She was right, of course. I'm an excellent one."

"Is that the only reason you came to the First Order?"

"No, sir," she replied. "Being there didn't feel… quite right. It's hard to explain." _Being there was lonesome without Poe,_ she thought.

"Your loyalty has been questioned. Captain Phasma's squad is suspicious of you and General Hux would have you executed." Kylo Ren managed to seem larger when delivering threats and Gage straightened her posture to halfway match him. She wasn't a tall girl but she didn't consider herself small either.

"Do they question your loyalty too?" Gage asked before she could regret it. "You defected."

There was a long pause where she expected to see his infamous cross-guard lightsaber flash before cutting her down. Gage's nervous fingers crept back to her hand torch. But he didn't acknowledge it.

"You wanted me to do something for you, sir?" she reminded him, hoping he'd tell her to fix up an old Tie Fighter and be done with it.

"Yes," he remarked, his voice a tinge mechanical. "There's an issue with my helmet that none of the other technicians have been able to figure out."

"Your helmet?" she questioned. "I've never worked on anything like that before. What's the problem with it?" Kylo Ren didn't respond. He only stood there, tall and intimidating. _Probably laughing at me behind that dark mask._ "Oh, so it's a test. All right," she said. "I'll pass it." She extended a hand before immediately drawing it back. _He'd never show me his face,_ she realized. _Then part of the power dynamic would shift in someone else's favor._ "Send it my way tomorrow."

He walked away from her without a word of acknowledgement. _So much for not drawing attention,_ Gage thought and began collecting her scattered tools.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! First of all, I'd like to thank you for your follows, favorites, and feedback. For a few days, I was having major glitches with seeing reviews and wasn't even receiving emails about them but as of now, that problem appears to be fixed. So if you haven't already, I'll be sending a message responding to your review. Thank you again! I hope you continue to enjoy. I only own Gage.**

"Day 189. I finally met Kylo Ren last night and it wasn't… terrible. In fact, it might be a good sign, even if speaking to him directly was against my objective. I know the point is to go unnoticed, to be ignored, but what I've done is not a common thing. I won't repeat some of the various experiences I've already told you but the Finalizer is no different than any other place I've been in the First Order. There's scrutiny and there's talk and Leia never went over what I was supposed to do if openly approached by someone like her son," Gage murmured into her recorder, pacing around her tiny room. She paused. "Still, I think this is an excellent opportunity. If you're listening to this, Poe, thank you very much for coming up with the 'best in the galaxy' line because he parroted that back at me before requesting that I look at an unnamed problem with his helmet to prove it. I'll record more about that once I've had a good look at it but my best guess is that he's wearing the mask for intimidation, homage to the old Empire and Vader. It's obviously a test, a game of some sort meant to prove my loyalty and my ability and General Hux will want me to fail. He hates me, he doesn't trust me, he wants me dead. Ren said as much. So I'm hoping that by default, Ren is going to be on my side. He and Hux are in heavy competition because they share this ship and I'm almost positive they share equal importance with Supreme Leader Snoke. They cannot stand each other so if Hux hates me, Ren just might be willing to give me a chance. At any rate, I need to do _something_ to get these people to stop breathing down my neck because I've garnered quite a bit of attention here. If fixing this mask helps me, so be it."

Gage whispered the locking code and tucked the tiny white recorder inside her boot. She kept it on her at all times, usually close to her chest but after the oil had almost ruined it the night before, Gage wanted to play it safe. Recording had been Leia's idea, mostly because it was similar to something she'd done years ago before being taken hostage by the Empire. Gage didn't mind it. After keeping your ear to the ground all day and working until your hands went numb, it was rather nice to talk to something that wanted to hear what you had to say. The recordings had started out formulaic, basic facts conveyed shortly and in a timely manner, like she'd been trained, but Gage had begun viewing them as a personal entry. The Resistance most certainly didn't care for her opinion on the fabric of the First Order jumpsuits but she just needed to talk, to say something that wasn't a lie or carefully thought out. Recording was also the closest thing to Poe.

Gage slouched onto her small, hard bed. The rest of the room reflected the same aesthetic as the bed; little, durable, grey. It was four walls, a bed, a laundry shoot, a garbage shoot, and a small dresser packed with identical grey jumpsuits. Gage had expected the First Order to be all black, peppered throughout with the white of the Stormtroopers, but for her, it had been grey. Grey clothes, grey walls, metal that appeared darker than an average silver.

She forced herself to her feet and pulled her black hair back. _Okay, Gage,_ she told herself. _You can do this. Earn your place, take your right of passage, fix that blasted mask._ With that, Gage headed down to her station on the main floor, not acknowledging any looks of disdain she garnered from others in the First Order. Stormtroopers may have been masked but she knew when they were looking at her. _Mostly because the looks are coupled with the word "rebel" or worse, "traitor,"_ she thought.

Gage hated the term "traitor" more than she hated "spy." "Spy" meant a job, even if a shoddy one. It indicated gumption, daring, self-sacrifice but it also said lonely, untrustworthy, mercenary. "Traitor" implied that you'd already betrayed one side so what was to keep you from turning on another? Though both were a detriment to Gage, being accused of being a spy would be far worse than the occasional Stormtrooper calling her a turncoat. After all, being named a traitor was part of the mission, wasn't it?

She reached her station and set up a worktable in the space left behind by the Snowspeeder. She rifled through her things, casually throwing items she thought she'd need in a separate toolbox. A strand of hair fell into her face and she tucked it behind her ear.

"Gage Marlow." Gage turned at the voice, which she judged must belong to General Hux based on the disgust in his tone. She sucked a breath in through her teeth when she saw him and the helmet carelessly cradled in his black-clad arms. It looked as if at any moment, the shiny dark mask would clatter to the floor before her. _And then he'd destroy it so that I'd be considered a failure,_ Gage realized. She walked forward when Hux extended the hand holding the helmet. It hastily fell into her grip, like if she hadn't moved fast enough then it might have tumbled to the ground, and Hux's blue eyes narrowed.

Stormtroopers led by Captain Phasma walked by and turned their heads to watch the exchange, to see a deserter from the other side holding the helmet of Kylo Ren. Gage knew it was most assuredly a strange sight because it felt strange to her.

"I appreciate you bringing this to me, General," Gage stated, her fingers curling around the base of the mask. Hux's mouth twisted into something like a grimace. She'd known the remark would get under his skin because Hux and Ren were rivals and delivering something this menial should be far below his rank. Gage would have liked to know how he got saddled with such a task.

"Good luck," Hux told her, clearly wishing the opposite. "You've got eight hours." Gage had expected a time limit, assuming that Kylo Ren wouldn't want to go long without the mask. From what she gathered, very few in the First Order had seen his face and she doubted that would ever change.

"Yes, sir," she replied as her grip tightened. _I'll get it done in six,_ she assured herself as she watched Hux return to the control room, where he would have an optimal seat for the show as it overlooked the main floor.

Gage slumped into the chair at her work station and propped her elbows on the table to keep the helmet level with her face. It wasn't a heavy thing but nor was it particularly light; enough weight to be substantial but not so much as to be uncomfortable. It was obviously styled to evoke Vader but with a flare, black accented with silver. _More grey,_ she thought with a sly smile. There was also something haphazard about it, what she might even call unpolished. If she held the mask a certain way, she could catch her distorted reflection. Mostly, she saw her hazel eyes looking back at her and the dark circles under them. _I have got to get more sleep._

"What's wrong with you, huh?" she murmured to it, twisting it in her hands. There didn't appear to be anything superficially wrong with it, except a small mark on the visor which could be easily taken care of. She felt along the inside, fiddled with the lock release, poked at the eyeshade, ran her fingers along every inch of it and still couldn't find a flaw. At least, not a flaw that Ren would have brought in a technician to fix.

Phasma walked by again, angling her gun across her chest as she watched Gage. Stormtroopers wandered around, attempting to appear busy but anxious to see what would happen if Gage's hand slipped. Kylo Ren was reportedly unstable, prone to fits of anger that had leveled consoles and destroyed droids. Gage knew more was riding on this than passing some test or proving her allegiance. Her life could be hanging in the balance and she still hadn't figured out the problem.

"What's the time?" she asked. A pair of Stormtroopers who had been meandering near her suddenly stood straight but neither responded.

"It's been an hour and six minutes," Phasma said across the way. Gage's eyes widened. _I've wasted an hour,_ she realized.

She brought her hands together and rested her chin on them, staring at the mask. _I shouldn't do it. Not even shouldn't, I can't!_ A glance up to the control room revealed a glimpse of Hux's red hair and disapproval. "Damn it," she swore. _I'm doing it._

Gage let down her dark hair, positioned her hands on the helmet's releases, and put it on. Everything became eerily quiet, though Gage wasn't sure whether that was due to the mask or everyone else on the work floor's general shock. Obviously, the helmet wasn't meant for her so she assumed the issues with sizing were her own problem. It was hard to see through the visor, everything was shaded and dark, but that could also be due to Gage herself. She took a deep breath when she looked Phasma's way to focus on something and that's when it hit her. The breathing equalizer! How had she overlooked that?

She took several more heavy deep breaths, the kind a person might make themselves do when they wanted to convince themselves they were in the control, the sort of breath Gage imagined someone taking to calm themselves down when someone so far beneath them had the audacity to ask for a wrench and then tell them they were wrong. Sure enough, she began to feel dizzy, lightheaded. Gage grinned and lifted the releases. The mask came free with a _whoosh!_ and Gage plopped it on the table in front of her.

Captain Phasma stood slack across the way from Gage, oddly transfixed. Several of her squad stood openly staring, if that's really what they were doing under those masks. A group of Stormtrooper mechanics beheld her in what was certainly animosity, as one had removed his helmet. Even at a distance, Gage could make out Hux watching her with a mix of apprehension and satisfaction. _He's sure that wearing the mask will cost me my life. Maybe it will,_ Gage admitted to herself. But she had to figure out the issue, a dilemma that apparently no other First Order technician could solve, and she knew why. No one else had dared asked Kylo Ren what the problem was and judging by the reactions around her, no one else had tried to see for themselves, which probably made this dangerous.

Gage's slender hand knocked over her toolbox to splay a variety of utensils in front of her and she got to work. Once she located the equalizer, she removed it. Though her stomach was as taut as a wire, it came loose with little fanfare. From then on, the job would become simpler or so she hoped. Gage had worked on equalizers for piloting equipment and ships before but she'd never had to fix something this precise. Nor had there ever been so much riding on her doing it perfectly.

Still, once she began the repairs, time seemed to go smoothly. Every now and then, she'd make herself stop and think it through, eat a little something, walk around. That had the excellent effect of helping her relax and keeping her focused. Mostly, all that was required were a few tweaks here and there, unblocking and clearing airways, cleaning filters. It was average work for most equalizers, just in a smaller space.

When Gage reattached it, she knew she'd have to test the mask again. She pulled the helmet on once more and felt the same unnerving quiet. She quickened her breathing until it went ragged and fortunately, never felt her earlier faintness. She pulled the releases and shed the mask in relief. _Thank you!_ she thought, cleaning it inside and out. _I just might have done this right._

On what had to be Captain Phasma's fourth time passing by her work station, Gage remarked, "Captain, would you alert General Hux that I'm finished?" Phasma gave no response as she walked away, most likely hoping that Gage had done something incorrectly. Gage honestly couldn't blame Phasma or Hux or anyone else with an ill opinion of her. Had the roles been reversed, she knew she would've been wary of a defector and would probably have never given them her trust.

Minutes later, Hux came down from the control room to find Gage holding the mask. She knew she shouldn't be smiling but she really was pleasantly surprised. To have gotten it done in time was fantastic to Gage, let alone with two hours to spare.

"Are you sure it's ready?" Hux asked, wildly patronizing. "You do have more time."

"I'm positive, sir. It should be as good as the day he first put it on," Gage replied, handing him the helmet. "Maybe even better." Gage had gotten into the First Order on cockiness and it paid to keep it up.

"I certainly hope so," he responded, the mask now propped under his arm. "I'm sure we'd all hate to lose a mechanic of your skill so early in your service."

Gage bristled and said, "I appreciate the concern, General, but I think I'll be safe." He huffed and carried the mask off.

She shook out her hands to stave off anxiety and began clearing her worktable. _He could come down here at any moment and run me through with that lightsaber,_ Gage thought, tucking a pair of tweezers into her belt. But she told herself that that fear was inane. She'd done precisely what Ren had asked her to do; fix an anonymous problem with his helmet. He didn't specify the method so there was nothing for him to be angry about. _Or nothing that the average person would be angry about._ Even General Leia had been willing to admit that her son had always had issues with anger and control. Gage had been told the story of him tearing apart Luke Skywalker's training school more times than she could count and each version of it seemed worse than the last. She and Poe stood in fixed horror when they first heard it. _But I'm a First Order technician and I was only doing my job,_ she convinced herself. The situation wasn't at all comparable to the slaughter of those kids.

"Technician." Gage turned to see a First Order pilot, recognizable by their darker armor and oxygen-fed helmet. _Odd that I wasn't called 'rebel,'_ she thought.

"Yes?" Gage replied, pulling her hair back up.

"I suffered damage to the wing of my Tie Fighter on its last flight and there are other aesthetic problems," the pilot responded. "If you would take a look." Gage raised her eyebrows because 'if you would take a look' sounded a lot like 'please.'

"Sure, just let me grab my things." She picked up her toolbox and followed the pilot to their Tie Fighter, which was contained in its section along the main floor. Gage gave a low whistle when she saw it. 'Damage to the wing' was a light way of putting it. 'Aesthetic problems' was dangerously understated. "It's remarkable you were able to fly that thing back at all. How'd you sustain this much damage?"

"Resistance fire near Jakku." Gage felt envy stir inside her. An air battle had always sounded thrilling to her. She wondered if Poe had been the one shooting.

"Near Jakku? That's rather strange." This was her own version of a test, to see if the pilot would suddenly close off or actually tell her something.

"I think it means we're making progress with the map." _The map?_ she questioned. _The map, the map, what map?_ Then it occurred to her. _The same map the Resistance is looking for. The map to Luke Skywalker._ Her grip tightened on the handle of her toolbox.

"Yeah," Gage responded with a nod, deciding not to press her luck any further. "All right, let me get started."

Frankly, all Gage had hoped for out of the day was for her life to be spared and for this to be the only attention Kylo Ren ever showed her. She didn't need to be thanked or told she'd done an excellent job. What she needed was information and no suspicion. She realized after fixing Ren's helmet, she might have gained access to both. Not only had she passed the test but Kylo Ren had unknowingly done her a favor. Because suddenly, it appeared that Gage was worth something in the First Order after all.

 **Yes, I know, no Kylo Ren himself in this chapter but I didn't want to make the chapter too long and I'm still working through some ideas. Thanks again! I'm going to see the Force Awakens again tomorrow, ugh, I am so excited.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I started back to school this week (I'm in graduate school and it's honestly terrible, haha) so I just decided to update when I had the opportunity! Thank you again for all of your kind words and encouragement. It means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this chapter! As usual, I only own Gage.**

"At worst, I may have to go and reset things from the switchboard but it still shouldn't be too long," Gage said. Even from her position under the panel, she could tell when Petty Officer Thanisson relaxed his posture, visibly relieved. Gage couldn't blame him since he'd insinuated that the problems with the panel in the control room were his fault. It certainly didn't help matters that both Kylo Ren and General Hux were there, obviously displeased.

"I hit the wrong thing," Thanisson repeated frantically, "and then I tried to fix it, which only made it worse. Much, much worse." _Poor guy,_ she thought, still wishing he'd leave her be. She sympathized with him but his panicky way of explaining himself was starting to make _her_ antsy.

"Oh, it's not as bad as all that. Really, it's not," Gage assured, though the damage had been enough to make her grimace. She felt sorry for the boy as his position could be on the line, and therefore his life, but he was smothering her. "It looks like you blew the power circuit," she admitted, leaning up to get a better look at the field wiring. She heard Thanisson groan. "Don't worry, I can fix that."

Thanisson began to say something else when Kylo Ren cut him off with a terse, "Leave her."

"Thank you," she whispered under her breath, low enough that she was sure he couldn't hear, when the door closed with a _whoosh!_ behind Thanisson.

Hux pulled Ren aside as Gage drew a group of wires towards the light. She kept her hands busy, focused her mind on the task, but strained to listen to them. "She should be transferred to Starkiller Base," Hux hissed. "They have need of a technician that can maneuver in the service hatches."

"You don't trust the girl, yet you would place her squarely where a Resistance informer would want to be," Ren responded. Gage tried to pull herself farther under the panel desk to get a better view of both the panel's mainframe and Ren and Hux's conversation.

"It is a simple suggestion that could be to both our benefits." A pair of wires singed the finger of her glove and while wincing, she managed to repair the end and reattach it.

"And what benefit is that? To lose the best technician aboard because you're threatened by her? She's of better use here." Gage smirked. Despite the circumstances, despite who was saying it, it was pretty flattering to be called the best. Though Ren had never openly commented on the work she'd performed on his mask, Gage assumed he was impressed. Hell, she'd been impressed with herself.

"To fix all of your menial problems? She can do that from Starkiller Base." Gage quickly reassembled the field wiring and slammed the hatch shut.

"That should do it!" she said loudly and slid out from underneath the desk. Gage wanted, needed, to know about Starkiller Base but she had no desire to be transferred there. Not when there was so much more still to learn aboard the Finalizer, where she was finally gaining some menial respect. "But I am going to have to reset it from the switchboard to give it the charge it needs."

Hux gave a low sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Gage had to actually tell herself not to roll her eyes as she got to her feet.

"I know you don't want to give me access to the mainframes, General," Gage stated, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "but you can either let me fix this or allow the control panel to stay on the fritz."

Hux scowled. Calling in another technician would be absolutely ridiculous but had Kylo Ren not been present, that is precisely what he would have done. Ren found the suspicion of her unfounded, given her over six month employment in the First Order, but six months was a small amount of time to turn your back on your old habits, your old friends. And while Gage Marlow seemed smarmy, small, and cocksure, Hux had no doubt that she'd made friends in the Resistance. But she had proven she was as good as she claimed and Ren, contrary to what Hux expected his reaction to be, had been impressed with her initiative with his helmet. "Gutsy," he'd called her. "Gutsy," yes, that was certainly the word for the girl in front of him.

"You can escort me and plug in the codes yourself," Gage proposed, "or I can call another mechanic up here." It was accommodating, yet managed to make Hux sound foolish at the same time.

"That's unnecessary," Kylo Ren asserted. Gage's eyes flashed to his dark form, wondering if he'd really undermine General Hux for something this wearisome. Hux was obviously wondering the same because he crossed his arms over his chest. "Follow me, technician."

Gage barely registered his words before quickly trailing after Ren. Up close, she estimated he was most likely a full foot taller than she was. Even without the Force, a light push from him might end with her on the floor. _But size isn't everything,_ she thought.

"Aren't you going to convince me to give you the access codes?" Ren asked as they entered another corridor. Gage almost jumped.

"No, sir," she replied calmly. "I'll leave that decision to you."

"Do you find General Hux's suspicions tiresome?" Ren turned a corner and Gage skittered to keep up. A pair of Stormtroopers turned their heads before quickly going back to walking out of the hallway.

"No, sir. Were I in his position, I'd think defecting was shifty too. What I find exasperating is that he believes I'd be so stupid as to bide my time during some sort of long con."

"Oh, no, he thinks you're quite clever. I agree with him." That sounded an awful lot like a compliment to Gage and she was surprised to find that she liked it. Although Leia had never officially turned her back on Ben Solo, most of the Resistance had. The argument had been that once he killed the new Jedi, there was nothing left to care for. And Gage positively hadn't cared for him. Han and Leia had sent him away long before she ended up with the Resistance. Gage had no memories of a complicated boy, torn and probably frightened. She only knew the bad and frankly, she expected to secretly hate him for the pain he'd caused General Leia, for killing people in the Resistance, and yes, for slaughtering those innocent children under Luke Skywalker's tutelage. But upon her second real interaction with Kylo Ren, she found that she wanted his praise.

"So does that mean you like what I did with the helmet?" Ren stopped and Gage had to catch herself from running into him. For a moment, she worried that she'd overstepped but then realized they'd reached the switchboard.

"You took a risk and it paid off," he responded blandly, plugging numbers into a panel in the wall. Gage peeked around to watch because it might have seemed strange for her to _not_ want to know the codes. The only reason she didn't particularly care was that she had no use for them. Recording numbers that would be of no help unless a massive amount of Resistance fighters were on board seemed like a waste of time and energy.

Kylo Ren turned and Gage could have sworn he was looking her straight in the eye. The switchboard released and after a beat, Gage went to it. She slid it out of the wall before bending down to get a good look. Lights brightened and dimmed, various colored wires stared back.

"The problem was with your equalizer," she told him, gesturing vaguely at where it might be had she been wearing a mask of her own. "I only mention it because I wouldn't be surprised if you have the same issue again."

"And supposedly, you are my best mechanic," he replied. The corner of Gage's mouth tugged upward, as if she just loved hearing that. Ren supposed that when Leia had refused the girl an X-Wing that she'd also kept her praise to herself.

Gage laughed drily, keeping her eyes focused on the switchboard. "Oh, what I did was flawless. A lot of equalizers have recurring issues along those lines. If you feel lightheaded, I'll take a look at it again." Much of the problem laid with the helmet itself, which was shoddily made and ramshackle, especially since Ren's last outing where a crack had formed down the right side. But Gage surely didn't feel comfortable acknowledging that.

Ren watched Gage shed her gloves to get a better grip on a group of wires. Hux thought she spent too much time giving the impression that she was unassuming, busy keeping her head down, but Ren had no problem with that. If trying not to draw more attention to herself got her to focus on her work, she was welcome to do it. No doubt she was tired of the endless accusations from others in the First Order.

She was a scruffy looking girl, all things considered. Oil under her fingernails, dark hair that always appeared in some sort of disarray, circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept a full night in weeks. But under all that, Ren recognized there was something about her that was attractive. Or perhaps, he only thought that she would have been, under other circumstances.

"What are your opinions on the transfer to Starkiller Base?" Ren questioned and Gage turned to look up at him, her hand frozen on a switch. "I know you listened in on the conversation."

"You have a very deep voice," she said in defense, looking back at the panel. "And I will go wherever you would like, sir."

"You're to stay here and prove General Hux wrong." She grinned and light from the switchboard reflected in her dark eyes. Gage struck Kylo Ren as a smiler, one of those people who'd grace you with a grin when she got what she wanted and a smirk when she didn't. It was a trait that hid unpredictability in Ren's experience.

"I very much doubt that will go in my favor."

"You can start by telling me about the Resistance." Gage had already given the First Order immense information on the Resistance, from names to places to weapons capability; all things General Leia had been aware that Gage would have to impart to gain trust. And everything she'd told them had been true.

"What do you want to know, sir?" She had already finished with the switchboard but kept her hands busy, prolonging the conversation. Gage needed to get a handle on Kylo Ren, on the things he wanted, on any underlying sympathies for his parents or the Resistance in general. The mission wasn't to bring him back to Leia but she'd still made it clear that she wanted to know everything about him.

"Where is their base?"

"The Ileenium system. I told that to my supervisor on another Stardestroyer. It didn't make its way up to you?" Gage cut her eyes at him and he gave no reaction. At least, none that she could see.

"I should not have to tell you that most of the First Order doesn't trust you." _Only 'most?'_ she questioned. _I thought it would be a strong 99.9%._

"Then why ask me these questions if you think I'll lie?" she asked, flipping a switch. The panel began lighting up, restarting.

"Because I don't believe you're lying." Gage looked at him again, the expression on her face something like skepticism. Part of her found that immensely foolish, so much so that she actually felt vaguely sorry for him. Because the man behind that mask wasn't just a high ranking official in the First Order or trained by Luke Skywalker and Snoke or a Knight of Ren. He was also General Leia's son. While Gage had had her problems with Leia over the years, she hadn't disliked her or been unsympathetic. Still, another part of her reveled in actually being able to pull this off. "What about their leadership?"

"I don't think I could tell you anything about that that you don't already know," she replied, "as their leader is your mother."

"She is _not_ my mother." A chill ran the length of Gage's spine at his tone and the way he balled his hand into a fist. It told her to tread lightly, that he's killed people for less.

"You're right, of course. I apologize, sir." She tried her best to sound genuine but knew it most likely came off hollow. If he thought the same, he gave no indication of it.

"Did she speak with you about me?" It was said in such an oddly self-effacing way that it took Gage off-guard. She forced herself to keep her gaze on the switchboard and pretended not to notice.

"Not directly, no," she answered. "Leia never said much to me, other than to fix something or other. But she did mention you infrequently in front of groups of us after the First Order would do something."

"And what did she say?"

"She said that she lost you and Han Solo the day she sent you to her brother. Other times, she'd briefly talk about what you were like before, as a boy." He seemed to scoff, as if it was impossible that he was ever a child or that Leia could have a genuine memory of him.

"And do I live up to your expectations? Do you find what she said about me to be true?"

Gage really considered her opinion on that and shrugged. "In a way, no. She spoke a lot about Ben Solo and that's not who you are anymore, is it?" Her hazel eyes flashed in his direction and again, no reaction. She wanted to know what he looked like beneath that mask. Was he handsome, grotesque, somewhere in between? Did every word out of her mouth make him grimace, make him grit his teeth and want to behead her? She'd never know. "Then again, it may help me understand you. After all, we can't change where we came from, can we?"

"You're stalling," he said in response. "You finished with the switchboard some time ago."

She half-laughed. "Yes, I did. You've got a good eye, sir." Gage wiped her hands on her jumpsuit and stood up, her back aching. "I'll head back to the control room and make sure the panel is back in working order. It shouldn't have any more problems, though I'd hesitate to put Petty Officer Thanisson near anything electrical for some time. I still don't know how he managed that mess."

After a long pause, where sweat broke out on the back of Gage's neck, Ren responded. "96-8954."

"What?" Gage asked, tucking her gloves into her belt.

"The code for the mainframes. It's 96-8954."

"Um, thank you. Your trust is not misplaced, sir."

"I hope not."


End file.
